My Experiences Building Clay Printers 2015-2020

A quick presentation about developing clay printing processes from our Fall 2020 course DART 213 "3D Printing for Artists & Designers" at Penn State University, School of Visual Arts.
I talk about pursuing clay printing processes over the past several years via a number of different D.I.Y. tools, and with a number of different collaborators.
Special thanks to the College of Engineering's "Learning Factory" program, whose students have had a tremendous impact on these projects over the years.
Images of printed works and process can be seen here: tom_lauerma...

[@rexus5940]

Very inspiring! My first clay printer head was an absolute failure.... however great learning curve. So please to see other passionate creators. Thank you for sharing

[@TomLauerman]

Thanks for watching!

[@mhgscrubadub9917]

This is so insane. The movement system is so cool to take from a milling machine

[@kaikaki8230]

Thank you for sharing your experiences. I am interesting in clay printing for quite some time now, because the material do not harm the environment and allow to make potential food and heat save objects. However clay printing was always hard to get into for me and seems to be quite time intensive. I see the latter confirmed by your video but it also gave me more information, which make it easier for me to get into the topic of clay printing :)

[@TomLauerman]

Thanks for the kind words. For better or worse I tend to make things more difficult than they need to be, and I liked to get absorbed in the technicalities of process. There are some good designs out there for printers that are less complicated.

[@megauberduber]

This channel is such a gem

[@TomLauerman]

Many thanks for your interest!

[@MadaraUCHIHA-hy9xe]

This is amazing, good job

[@HaidarHasani]

man this is amazing...please keep on

[@TomLauerman]

Many thanks, much appreciated!

[@free_spirit1]

1mm nozzle is just astonishing. Also noticed the duet board, very nice.

[@TomLauerman]

Many thanks! I'm a big fan of the Duet Board

[@gedr7664]

amazing!!!!

[@Roche2239]

This is so cool! I wish my college offered anything like this.

[@TomLauerman]

Thanks for your interest!

[@TripleLiquid]

This is fantastic work, thank you for publishing these videos! Do you have more information available aside from this channel? I'm interested in exploring this at my local makerspace.

[@TomLauerman]

This is a possible place to start: wikifactory.com/+Ceramic3DPrinting/forum Also there are good clay printing kits and components from companies such as WASP. 3DPotter, Lutum, Stoneflower and Cerambot.

[@Nathan-mu8zy]

I really want to build a more compact version of these now

[@kitingmare]

Awesome! I've been following for a while and your clay prints look great, as does the printer! Are you still using the wall mounted loading thing to load the tubes?

[@TomLauerman]

Thanks! Yes, I do often still use a wall mounted extruder to load clay tubes, but these days using smaller tubes and a smaller wall extruder at the moment.

[@speeddemon1774]

Stumbled across this channel from a suggestion, and was blown away by the resolution you're getting. Do you have any plans available for your extruder design? It would be awesome to try using metal paste instead of clay for a hobbyist-level metal 3D printer.

[@TomLauerman]

Many thanks for your interest! The printer design is always changing (as the video shows) so it has never really settled down enough to do proper plans. The other issue is its got lots of custom made metal components that I think would drive people a little nuts to try and duplicate, even if I had good drawings/specs. That said, there are some good commercial machines out there from companies like WASP, 3DPotter, Stoneflower, and Cerambot.

[@britzwickit]

@@TomLauerman how do you think these kits compare to your machine? you said in the video you are getting better detail than commercial clay printers

[@TomLauerman]

@@britzwickit Thanks for your interest! I'd put it this way - I'm building a machine that suits my very particular needs and obsessions, whereas a commercial machine will be designed to work in a broader set of use cases. To make an analogy, if a commercial printer is like a guitar, that can be played in many styles by many people, then my printer is like some goofy electric lute that meets the needs of the luthier who designed it, but likely almost no one else. It's comparatively small, expensive, complex, and eccentric as well as ever-changing, and has proven to be frustrating to others who have built a similar machine along the same lines from time to time. I set out to make a Prusa-style printer work with clay, but I ended up somewhere else entirely. Even working with my students I can see the limitations of my design with a broader audience - the print envelope is fairly small the prints take quite a long time, and the machine is not intuitive to use. I'm thinking of buying a commercial machine for the classroom for this reason, even though I'm not considering using a commercial machine in my own work & research. I hope that makes some sense, thanks again for your interest!

[@BurninGems]

Btw, I have an auger and extrusion and stress Duet board and motors.. Where do you get the nozzles? Is it some type of piping tip for icing or custom?

[@TomLauerman]

Yes, precisely, I use cake frosting tips for cake decorating.

[@JochenThe1]

Good. Did you calculate what would be needed to print bigger structures, e.g. for energy efficient and environmental friendly houses (e.g. big brick system including all installation tunnels)?

[@TomLauerman]

I know how amazing 3D printed houses would be, but I also know where my heart is as an artist/designer, and it is not in making house scale things. The good news is that others are pursuing this direction really effectively. Check out WASP 3D and also architect Ronald Rael. Thanks for your interest!

[@Tefans97]

Really interesting! I imagine you could use it for other materials that have similar properties, like some forms of dough or icing. Have you experimented with anything other than clay?

[@TomLauerman]

I have not, I have such an intense interest in clay that I never get around to trying other materials, I'm very boring that way - but clay has infinite possibilities (but not as food)

[@Hellsong89]

There is chocolate printers for decorative peaces and they have even manage to get surface finishing with flame "polish" to get surface nice. While construction side has working prototypes, even commercial concrete printers that can make anything from art to full size small house frame, to witch design usually has empty center and two layers on each side so one can pump urethane foam insulation into the middle form, concrete on the two outer ones with rebar reinforcement and insulate it real quick. Essentially you print wall forms that you the pour and insulate. Though concrete nozzle size was pretty hefty around one inch and some half inch ones for art work, if i recall right, there is video about in youtube and some guy got 3d scan of him self and concrete printed 3 ton statue of him self, that was crane lifted next to his buddys pool side as birthday gift... with some surprises inside the statue and of course water hose going from bottom to statue lips so it works as fountain :D

[@1337mofo]

I wish I had access to that... where can I learn to build one? Amazing!

[@TomLauerman]

My design changes all the time and has gotten really complex, so people get mad at me eventually when they build a version of my design. It just hasn't gone well. I'd recommend checking out Jonathan Keep and Bryan Cera, who have both posted great open source designs that many others have duplicated.

[@xaytana]

I'd be interested in seeing a hopper setup for this, similar to how plastic extruders work with pellets. This would give the printer extended print time without having to replace a tube of clay, and may end up taking some stress off the Z axis if you make the hopper and feed system it's own separate machine. It'd also be interesting to see a companion machine that touches up the surface. Like a 5 axis drag knife that holds clay forming tools. Unless smoothing with a slurry is a viable option, though how well would that hold up during and after baking in a kiln?

[@TomLauerman]

Pieces do great in the kiln: kzbin.info/www/bejne/d2nQpYt4bdGKpJI Thanks for these other suggestions, which I'll keep in mind. I do like having the clay as close to the print head as possible, that has been a guiding principle, with some ups and downs.

[@livewiya]

Very cool! PSU Alum here - I've been playing with 3d printers for about 2 years now and my favorite part about it is how many directions it can be taken.

[@vesslades]

Thanks for sharing your process, very interesting. I'm curious about the clay itself. I guess it's just regular clay that's been watered down. How viscous does it need to be to produce the best results?

[@TomLauerman]

Thanks for your interest and for the question. It's regular clay, not even watered down much. I need to make some videos about the clay and the preparation process, which can be fairly complex or fairly simple, depending on situation. I'm a Ceramics teacher, so you'd think I'd start there, but I'll get there with these videos soon hopefully.

[@vesslades]

@@TomLauerman Sweet, thanks. I'm looking forward to learn more from you. Keep the good work up, you're awesome

[@juliankandlhofer7553]

This is really cool! Do you do any post processing on these prints? Like do you just let the clay dry in air or would you fire it in a kiln like regular pottery? I would immagine there could be some shrinkage issues when you put intricate parts in a kiln. Also have you used this for mechanical parts? I can immangine that ceramic, and therefore heat resistant parts could have a lot of applications. Thanks for sharing this!

[@TomLauerman]

I do fire and often glaze these pieces, see here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/d2nQpYt4bdGKpJI The clay used is the same as they types of clay you'd find in a ceramics studio or classroom. Thanks for your interest!

[@maxwoods286]

Amazing clay prints! I love designing 3d printed compressed air engens. Do you think your clay 3d prints could be used to cast aluminum?

[@TomLauerman]

DO you mean a printed ceramic mold into which aluminum (molten) would be cast? I have no idea - but in principle I believe it would work. Would have to take precautions to make sure it would be safe.

[@maxwoods286]

@@TomLauerman thanks! I thought ceramic aluminium moldes molds might get 3d printers closer to self replicating.

[@nic.h]

Been pondering a similar idea, using plaster of paris or investment plaster to 3D print a mold for aluminum casting. Similar to lost resin casting, but you don't have to do the resin print first and then burn it out from the plaster.

[@first-thoughtgiver-of-will2456]

This is awesome!! I want to build one and a clay harvesting machine so I can print ceramics for relatively free and possibly print aluminum casting molds!

[@TomLauerman]

I have printed clay from my backyard (after a lot of sifting, etc) would be a good topic for a future video.

[@first-thoughtgiver-of-will2456]

@@TomLauerman Do you know of any automated machines to do so? I have drafted up a machine after watching some DIY videos. it uses two containers (buckets), one with a stirring rod (motor with a rod attached to the lid that induces a cyclone) and another with a fan on the lid. The stirring rod container excites the particles (bunch of dirt in water) and waits for a settling time duration before pumping the top fraction of water into the second evaporation container (again just a bucket). I'm hoping to automate the process with a garden hose and solenoid valve and an arduino or raspberry pi with relays.

[@BurninGems]

Did you ever take it to the Fayette campus? My wife and I both started there but it was early 90's so unfortunately long before your involvement. Still a lovely campus.

[@TomLauerman]

Never went to Fayette, would like to sometime!

[@Rienck]

Awesome and inspirational! I see where the 3d printing of houses come together with the 3d printing of art with what you're showing. I wonder if printing multicolor is all that useful when you're able to decorate your piece of arts afterwards? Maybe that's a stupid question but forgive me as I'm not an clay artist.

[@TomLauerman]

Multicolor hasn't been terribly useful! It has been a fun challenge, but I think I have de-prioritized multicolor. Multi-material could be interesting . . . .

[@first-thoughtgiver-of-will2456]

Did you try a direct drive peristaltic pump for precision pressure? maybe it can help reduce the nozzle diameter further if the clay particle size is consistent enough and the pulsation of the pump is minimized for the range of flow rates?

[@TomLauerman]

Keith Simpson is an artist who has made a nice peristaltic pump clay printer. In his, the extrusion pulsates, creating a beautiful effect. However, I want to have the extrusion be consistent. Peristaltic pump might be a good way, but I'm happy with what I've been working with, and not ready to move on from mechanical syringe yet.

[@first-thoughtgiver-of-will2456]

@@TomLauerman I think you would just have to solve for a low pass of the flow. Something like a container with volume and a certain distance of tubing between the pump and nozzle may even out the ripples (as well as picking the right peristaltic pump).

[@first-thoughtgiver-of-will2456]

@@TomLauerman after sleeping on this yours is certainly preferable.

[@stofffpv3128]

very interesting..i cant imagine the amount of hours you all put into that..already thought of 20 things to do with it

[@TomLauerman]

By my loose estimate I'm at about 5000 hours, LoL

[@andysavage2361]

Is it possible to post the part list? Would love to build one of these myself but I’m keen to not reinvent the wheel.

[@andysavage2361]

Or alternatively go into details about the latest design and show how the extruded works.

[@TomLauerman]

I have started to do this I think, for example I posted this today: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y5-Zn3ydoMaBqq8 As for a parts list, I've posted one in the past but I'm always changing the design and making custom metal parts. This has been frustrating for folks trying to make a version of this printer. If I was starting this project today rather than 5 years ago I'd probably start with a commercial system. There are a number of producers now including 3D Potter, WASP, Lutum, Stone flower 3D, and Cerambot.

[@Vaasref]

Have you tried wax based medium like monster clay ? It would be interesting to create molds of the printer part and melt and reuse the material, either for resin casting or metal casting. And I don't know what consistency of clay you need for your printer but maybe there is a wax based one that would work out of the box.

[@TomLauerman]

This is a nice idea. Personally however, clay is the material I wish to use as a final product.

[@patprop74]

I also got into desktop 3d printing right around when the Makerbot cupcake was starting to be a thing, however, I never went the route of clay printing, but i do remember seeing your stl's on Thingiverse years and years ago, I went the resin curing direction, nonetheless, now in 2021, I am interested in clay printing, What kind of clays work best? polymers or River clay, I have an inexhaustible source of blue clay right here in my own backyard, would that clay work well? it would probably need to be processed into usable pottery clay I'm sure?

[@TomLauerman]

Just about any clay will work if it is the right consistency and doesn't have foreign material in it like pebbles, sticks, etc. I use clays that are meant for an art/craft studio (I'm a ceramics teacher). I have also used backyard clay, but it needed to be thoroughly sieved. Thanks for your interest!

[@jacobrollins37]

4:24 When you started talking about how you can 3D print clay with an inch wide nozzle and said you probably could not 3D print plastic that wide it made me think. If I would try to 3D print plastic that wide I would probably have a nozzle that looked kinda like a shower head.

[@boredotter]

I WHAT ONE. Maybe you should try the pressurised air printer again but with smaller clay tubes for lower pressure and more refillings. Also i always hated my Velleman k8200 with. the same x and y axis as yours so its interesting that you chose that design :)

[@TomLauerman]

Thanks for your interest. I know one thing for sure, I'm never going back to using air to move the clay :). As for the format, there are always tradeoffs, but I have a few guiding principles: 1. The clay should move the shortest, easiest distance possible (clay is very hard to move through a tube!). In my design the clay travels only about 7cm from the syringe/storage to the print bed. 2. Whatever is lightest should be the thing moving. My printhead weighs 15 pounds, and there's two of them. I don't want to sling 30 pounds of extruder left and right. The print bed, even with a large print, will weigh a lot less, so it does the moving on X and Y, printhead just moves on Z. I should make a video about these design decisions. Certainly many others made very different decisions!

[@boredotter]

@@TomLauerman OK that explains a lot. I reakted to the bed design since I have only had trubble with my FDM-printer with the same design ;) I must ask, don't you have any trubble with wobbles when the print reaches a sertain hight?

[@jtrmal]

And one more question -- how about drying the clay as you print (i.e. using fans or something)? I have no experience with clay whatsoever, just curious -- some plastics need it, for some kinds of plastic it's detrimental...

[@TomLauerman]

I'm printing with clay that is relatively stiff and not super wet, no forced drying needed. I have the opposite issue sometimes, the print dries more than I want to when printing over the course of many hours. I have considered building a humidifying enclosure to counteract this.

[@Scott_C]

@@TomLauerman this gets me thinking... I've seen wheel potters and hand builders use a butane or propane torch to dry their clay really quick. Could you use one of those small ones (like cooks use) mounted near the extrusion point to spot bake the clay and possibly build objects wet clay couldn't support?

[@TomLauerman]

@@Scott_C In short, yes! In the longer term, I'm interested more in developing a "combustible" printed support. So the object is made of clay and supported by anything extrude-able and flammable (for example paper pulp) deposited by a second print head. Then in the firing process the support burns away. Thanks for your interest!

[@Scott_C]

@@TomLauerman keep making awesome stuff!

[@harviecz]

You have LOTS of clearance around nozzle. This is really good news for non-planar slicing. But i think the nozzle should be slightly modified to allow for some ironing to achieve even smoother look.

[@TomLauerman]

Thanks for the suggestions and for your interest! I have heard from a few folks interested in non planar slicing, and it is intriguing. One obstacle to implementing this is my personal skill set. I'm better with mechanical and material challenges and less adept at things like toolpath design, for which I rely entirely on slicing software. I'll keep this in mind, but it may have to wait until mainstream slicers implement non planar capabilities, or a plug-in enabling such a thing. I'm definitely interested!

[@harviecz]

@@TomLauerman There are already experimental slicer forks with this feature. Maybe you can try this: github.com/Zip-o-mat/Slic3r/tree/nonplanar

[@TomLauerman]

@@harviecz Thanks for the link, I'll check this out!

[@jtrmal]

I'm sorry about a naive question, but I read in some book many years ago that if there is air in the clay, it can cause cracking or destruction during the firing of the object? In my limited experience with (plastic) 3d printing, there are always air bubles and gaps everywhere. Is this a problem for these clay printed objects or I misunderstood something?

[@TomLauerman]

This is the most frequent comment I get. I should do a video about air and moisture in clay and the firing process (sounds like a thrilling video!). Anyhow, the short answer is that I don't have negative outcomes in firing as a result of air/moisture. The "why" answer would be much longer, but has to do with wall thickness, drying time, and firing schedules.

[@jtrmal]

@@TomLauerman Yes, please, do a video :) And apologies for perhaps a naive questions.

[@crazystuffproduction]

I would liek to see the vids

[@TomLauerman]

Cool, I'll circle back to them eventually.

[@glennedward2201]

Well done I like to see diy innovation. I know you’ve learned a lot in this process so congratulations. If you ever want a aluminum version let me know and I will machine for you. Gives me an excuse to make one for myself.

[@TomLauerman]

Thank you Glenn, for watching and sharing. I'm always tempted to make more metal parts, but then I'm always changing part designs and I couldn't bear to throw away good, machined bits. Maybe someday though, sounds fun!

[@nst0017]

how would I contribute to the project.

[@TomLauerman]

What a nice sentiment! Not sure I've been asked this before. How do you typically contribute to projects you are interested in? Thanks you for your interest.

[@markusgranberg8004]

One thing missing in this presentation is the mixing of the clay? It must be important to get this right?

[@TomLauerman]

I couldn't agree more, I look forward to making a future video or several about this. Clay preparation is a huge part of this process!

[@lesptitsoiseaux]

Kickstarter?

[@TomLauerman]

People would be so disappointed at the (surprisingly high) cost of my printer, I'd never hit a reasonable price point that would make a Kickstarter viable. Beyond that, my focus is on research and experimentation, I'd never want to "lock down" the design, which is always changing. Thanks for you interest, however, and check out printers by WASP 3D, Potterbot, Stoneflower 3D, Lutum, and Cerambot

[@Hellsong89]

So why not use auger in the nozzle to adjust final feed speed, tube to move the material, auger to move the material trough the pipe and hopper that could be operated by linear actuator or by hand to feed the clay to auger feeder, or alternatively "tool head swapper" that just swaps the clay piston tube setup to another middle of print and can be easily filled while its working the first one? You already have aluminum frame so locking the tube in place aint that difficult just little engineering to make slots to slide it and simple locking mechanism. While the tube does not move except up and down, have a pivoting arm to grab the num1 tube, turn it around 180 degree in the "wrist", place the new tube in place and return to default position. This also can be used with 3-4 arms to swap colors easily, though it will take bit more time compared to double nozzle setup, but even that can be swapped with this same setup, just need servo etc to lift the one piston bit higher than the first one is so it wont touch and you gain back lots of your build area. Also have you tested any surface finish methods like spraying water on the surface after the print, before drying and kelm treating it?

[@TomLauerman]

Thanks for all of these suggestions, some of which I've considered, some of which I haven't yet. A tool changing approach is very interesting, but the extruder weighs about 15 pounds, so it's non-trivial to move it around. Still, I'll give these insightful suggestions some thought, thanks!

[@shadowslayer552]

You should really look into concrete printers

[@TomLauerman]

but I really don't like concrete, for a whole bunch of reasons

[@jessoman]

Did you try hydraulics?

[@TomLauerman]

I did not, thanks for the suggestion.

[@jessoman]

@@TomLauerman would be bulletproof and you could control a huge reservoir of clay and high resolution extrusion with very small nozzles would be possible. Less moving parts and electrically controlling the solenoids through logic would be easy. Double acting hydraulics of course, for your retraction. The pressures you can generate in a small footprint would be immense, better for multiple colours too. If you were to go into production, they would survive shipping. You could also have nozzles of different sizes on the one cylinder/reservoir to increase speeds for low resolution parts of the print. Just control the nozzle with solenoids and the slicer would treat it as a different extruder and assign the linewidths to each extruder. Fun project.

[@kebakent]

I always liked systems where the material is cheap and readily available. Plastic printers are cool, but you're entirely dependent on a big supply chain to deliver that plastic. Until now, I favored cnc milling machines, because wood is so easy to get or reuse. I wonder if anyone does concrete printing or milling. But I guess concrete milling would destroy the tool head pretty quickly.

[@mhgscrubadub9917]

you could probably do high rpm small tool head machining on concrete.

[@zeerakparvez9057]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/fJKxfZ6aZdetjs0 not exactly desktop scale but really interesting how they approach the challenges that come with concrete. worth the watch imo

[@TomLauerman]

Concrete printing is definitely a thing, there are lots of great examples out there, for the housing industry mostly.

[@jhvnhjifgvbv8126]

Most plastics are cheap and readily available though. And most people rely on a big supply chain for wood as well.

[@kyrie26]

Number of hours, amount of time. Never : amount of hours.

[@TomLauerman]

I will acknowledge that I have erred grammatically by using "amount" rather than "number" to describe hours. However, I won't apologize yet as I still kind of like the visual image of a heap of hours. I feel like I am taking my hours and throwing them onto this giant pile, all willy-nilly. I will continue to consider my error here however.

[@kyrie26]

@@TomLauerman no many how big a pile, even if it approached infinity, each hour is still countable, so "number" versus "amount" still applies. There was never any need to apologize, truth and learning are their own reward.